Abstract: The declining costs of wearable sensors have made self-monitoring of sleep related behavior easier for personal use but also for sleep studies. Several monitor devices come with apps that make use of diary entries to provide people with an overview of their sleeping habits and give remotely advice. However, it could be that filling in a sleep diary impacts people’s perception of their sleep or the very behavior that is being measured. A small-scale field study about the effects of sleep monitoring (keeping a sleep diary) on a cognitive and a behavioral level is discussed. The method was designed to be as open as possible in order to focus on the effects of sleep monitoring where participants are not given a goal, motivation or feedback. Some behavioral modifications were observed, for example, differences in total sleep time and bedtimes were found (compared to a non-monitoring week and a monitoring week). Nevertheless, what the causes are of these changes remains unclear, as it turned out that the two actigraph devices used in this study differed greatly. In addition, some participants became more aware of their sleeping routine, but changing a sleeping habit was found challenging because of other priorities. It is important to know what the effects may be of sleep monitoring as the outcomes may already have an effect on the participant behavior which could cause researchers to work with data that do not represent a real life situation. In addition, the self-monitoring may serve as an intervention for facilitating healthier sleeping habits. (More)

The declining costs of wearable sensors have made self-monitoring of sleep related behavior easier for personal use but also for sleep studies. Several monitor devices come with apps that make use of diary entries to provide people with an overview of their sleeping habits and give remotely advice. However, it could be that filling in a sleep diary impacts people’s perception of their sleep or the very behavior that is being measured. A small-scale field study about the effects of sleep monitoring (keeping a sleep diary) on a cognitive and a behavioral level is discussed. The method was designed to be as open as possible in order to focus on the effects of sleep monitoring where participants are not given a goal, motivation or feedback. Some behavioral modifications were observed, for example, differences in total sleep time and bedtimes were found (compared to a non-monitoring week and a monitoring week). Nevertheless, what the causes are of these changes remains unclear, as it turned out that the two actigraph devices used in this study differed greatly. In addition, some participants became more aware of their sleeping routine, but changing a sleeping habit was found challenging because of other priorities. It is important to know what the effects may be of sleep monitoring as the outcomes may already have an effect on the participant behavior which could cause researchers to work with data that do not represent a real life situation. In addition, the self-monitoring may serve as an intervention for facilitating healthier sleeping habits.